The Ministry of Science publishes a Call for awarding grants for innovative projects

Pursuant to Article 11 of the Law on Innovation Activities (Official Gazette of Montenegro 42/16) and the Rulebook on detailed terms and procedure for approval and the manner of using the funds from the Budget of Montenegro for innovative programmes and projects of general interest (Official Gazette of Montenegro 81/16)

THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE
publishes a
CALL
FOR AWARDING GRANTS FOR INNOVATIVE PROJECTS

with total amount of EUR 1,000,000 allocated for grants for innovative projects (hereinafter: projects) under this Call

I Subject of the Call

The subject of the Call is awarding grants for innovative projects in line with the thematic priorities established by the Strategy of Innovation Activities (2016-2020).

The thematic priorities established by the Strategy are the following:

» Energy; » Agriculture and food; » Sustainable development and tourism; » Information and communication technologies; » Medicine and health of people; and » New materials, products and services.

II Objectives of the Call

Objectives of the Call are the following:

- Strengthening the competitiveness of Montenegrin companies by co-financing the development of innovative market-oriented products, services and technologies that have large potential for commercialization and market application;- Supporting the transfer of innovative ideas from scientific research institutions to the market, through cooperation with partners from the economy or through opening new companies / spin-off companies in Montenegro; and- Strengthening human resources and creating new jobs.

Specific objectives are the following:

- Strengthening the innovative potential of SMEs and their recognisability in the innovation system;- Stimulating technological innovations and encouraging commercialization, i.e. the application of innovative ideas and technologies on the market;- Encouraging the employment of highly qualified personnel in the research and innovation sector;- Increasing the investment of private sector into Research and Development;- Raising the level of commercial readiness through the funding of additional development of inventions / innovations;- Addressing the gap in funding between research and commercialization;- Increasing the number of patents that have the potential to be applied in practice;- Stimulating cooperation with the Montenegrin scientific and economic Diaspora in order to create the conditions for their return, i.e. strengthening their connection and reintegration into the local community;- Encouraging the transfer of knowledge and technology in cooperation with domestic and international partners from the scientific-research and economic sector.

III Budget per approved project

The Ministry of Science (hereinafter: the Ministry) shall award a grant in the amount up to EUR 100,000 per project approved.

The amount of funds allocated from the state budget for co-funding an innovation project will be determined depending on the total accepted project budget and depending on the size of the company or organization, i.e. the grant user. The maximum amount of funds provided as support may reach:

- 70% for micro and small enterprises / organizations with up to 49 employees;
- 60% for medium-sized enterprises / organizations with between 50 and 249 employees; and
- 50% for large enterprises / organizations with over 250 employees.

The state aid rules shall apply to other innovative organizations that participate as Applicant or project partner, for the project activities related to innovation activities.

The Applicant is obliged to provide the remaining amount of funds from their own / other sources, as well as to provide proof of the financial contribution provided for the implementation of the project.

The applicant may not, as part of their own financial participation in the project implementation, use the funds allocated to him by any public national or international source of funding (Budget of Montenegro, relevant international fund providers etc.), for the purpose of realizing the same activities proposed in the Application for an innovative project under this Call.

IV Deadline for implementation

The projects approved under this Call shall be funded for a period of 12 to 24 months, i.e. from December 2018 to December 2020 at the latest.

V Eligibility criteria

The Call is open to legal entities in Montenegro, established in accordance with a separate law and registered in the Register of Innovative Organizations , and these include: scientific research institutions, higher education institutions and business entities (innovative-entrepreneurial centre, business incubator, company, or part of a company).

All legal entities interested in submitting a project application need to apply for registration in the Register of Innovative Organizations. The Rulebook on detailed conditions for registration in the Register of Innovative Organizations (Official Gazette of Montenegro 52/16) is available on the following website: http://www.mna.gov.me/biblioteka/pravilnici

An applicant cannot apply to the Call independently, but only in partnership with at least one domestic legal entity in line with the conditions of the Call.

The partnership must include at least one business entity from Montenegro.

An exception to the above requirement is possible only if it is envisaged that the implementation of the project would include the establishment of a new company / spin-off company in Montenegro by a scientific-research institution or through a public-private partnership.

International partners may be engaged only on the basis of expert services or consultancy agreements.

If the Applicant is a business entity, it must meet the following requirements:

» Being registered in the Central Register of Business Entities of Montenegro;» Being registered in the Register of Innovative Organizations, managed by the Ministry of Science;» Having a headquarters at the territory of Montenegro; » Doing business for at least two years before the expiry of the deadline for applications;» Having positive business results in the last two financial years;» Fulfilling the obligations to pay contributions and taxes regularly; and» Not having used financial assistance from the public national and international source of funding, or donor programmes for the same activities covered by the project application.

Project partners are obliged to submit a copy of the operating license or certificate from the Central Register of Business Entities (depending on the type of legal entity).

VI Content of the project application

Project applications shall contain the following:

» Signed and stamped Application form; »Project budget;» Brief presentation of the project (in English);» Resumes of key members of the project team – five members maximum (CVtemplate);» Proof of financial contribution provided for the implementation of the project from own sources;» Statement as a proof of not showing the funds allocated to them from any public national or international source of funding (Budget of Montenegro, relevant international fund providers etc.) as their own financial participation in the realization of the project, for the for the purpose of realization of the same activities proposed in the application for an innovative project under this Call; » Statement made by the Applicant that the contractual obligations from the previous projects financed from the state Budget in the last five years have been fulfilled; and

» Proof of registration in the Register of Innovative Organizations.

In addition to the above, if the Applicant is a business entity, the following documents also need to be submitted:

» A photocopy of a Certificate from the Central Register of Business Entities;» Annual financial statements for the past two years;» Proof of settled tax obligations or relevant document on the reprogram of the tax debt; and» A Confirmation or Certificate that no bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings have been launched or conducted against the organization.

VII Project applications evaluation

The administrative check of the received applications for the Call shall be conducted by the Ministry. After the administrative check, all project applications that meet the required conditions shall be submitted for evaluation.

The evaluation process shall be carried out by international experts and it shall take place in two phases:

» The first phase: each project application that passes the administrative check shall be submitted for evaluation, to be conducted by two international experts appointed by the Ministry. Their task is to carry out a distance evaluation of a particular application that is closely related to their field of expertise and to submit an individual evaluation report for the first phase of the evaluation process, using a form prepared and submitted by the Ministry of Science.

» The second phase: Project applications that are positively evaluated in the first phase of the evaluation will be delivered to the experts of the second phase of the evaluation. The second phase of evaluation shall be implemented by the Final Evaluation Commission (FEC) consisting of three international experts appointed by the Ministry, of which at least one member shall be in charge of the innovative and commercial aspect of the project.

VIII Criteria for selection of projects and evaluation method:

The criteria for the first phase of evaluation are the following:

» Quality and originality of innovative idea / innovation (30 points maximum);» Quality of the proposed activity plan and the quality of the project budget (30 points maximum);» Capacity of the Applicant, partners and members of the project team (30 points maximum); and

» Potential for commercialization (10 points maximum).

The criteria for the second phase of evaluation are the following:

» Innovation and competitiveness (30 points maximum);» Quality of the project plan: technical characteristics, project management as well as the financial structure of the proposed budget (30 points maximum); and

Advantage in the selection process shall be given to the applicants that:

» Have young researchers and innovators up to 35 years of age and/or scientists or entrepreneurs from diaspora in their project team;» Create new jobs; and

» Propose projects with potential for future applications within international programmes such as HORIZON 2020 and the like.

In the evaluation phase, the advantage in the selection process will be taken into account for the prioritization of project proposals with the same number of points.

The Ministry shall decide on awarding grants for innovation projects in line with the recommendations of the Final Evaluation Commission.

The list of the projects selected for co-financing shall be published on the website of the Ministry of Science.

IX Ethical issues

In the process of preparing the project application, the Applicant is obliged to observe ethical principles and rules.

If the project application implies an ethical issue, the Applicant is obliged to submit the approval of the Ethics Committee (if applicable) and / or provide other relevant proof of resolving the ethical issue.

X Deadline for applications

Applications for the Call should be submitted no later than 24 September 2018, by 2:00 pm.

XI Submission of the Application:

The completed and signed Application Form, along with the supporting documents, should be submitted in two hard copies (original and one copy) to the Ministry of Science, at the following address: Rimski trg br. 46, 81 000 Podgorica. In addition, the applications should be submitted in electronic form, via the website of the Ministry of Science www.mna.gov.me.

Programme for Awarding Grants for Innovative Projects is available here

Contact person for the Call in the Ministry of Science:Marijeta BarjaktarovićLanzardi
Head of the Section for Innovations and Infrastructure
E-mail: marijeta.barjaktarovic@mna.gov.me; Tel: +382 20 234-577